


Seeing the Ups and Downs

by Toca



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Complete, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One Shot, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22619572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toca/pseuds/Toca
Summary: Almost everybody gets a tattoo (or tattoos in some cases; also known as soulmarks), either when they are born or when their soulmate’s born, that represent their soulmate(s), the tattoo is just an outline, until the soulmate is met, afterwards it fills itself with colour.That’s great and all, but Ed has never had one and just as he’s accepted that he’s probably never going to get one, it happens, problem is it’s 14 years too late, he’s been kidnapped by aliens, so he’s still unconscious and has no idea he even got one. On the upside, he might die long before he has to meet them and deal with everything so that’s… just peachy.
Relationships: Bart Allen/Eduardo Dorado Jr.
Comments: 16
Kudos: 120





	Seeing the Ups and Downs

**Author's Note:**

> We need more soulmate AUs for the boys. I decided to write something shorter after my 14,000 words monster. ^^”  
> I hope you like it.  
> "..." - dialogue  
> '...' - thoughts

**Santa Fe**

**December 14, 22:45 GMT-3**

Ed had just officially ran away from home, it was surprisingly easy, he just had to wait for his abuelo to fall asleep in front of the TV, Ed had gotten really good at sneaking out, practice made perfect as the people say. 

He had ran away before, but it was never serious and the police always found him anyways, but this time was different, it felt different. Honestly, he still didn’t know if it was real or not, as of right now he had one goal, get to America (and his father?) without being caught by the police. 

Well, first stop, the bus station. 

As he was walking through the dark streets, barely lit by the street lights, he once again thought how lucky he was not to have a soulmate. He had just recently convinced himself it was something good, before he was sad, sure that he simply didn’t deserve one, that he was not worth it, but after seeing how restricting it was to have one, Ed started thanking his lucky star he was born without a tattoo. He was free to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted without caring if somebody might or might not be upset. It was also lonely, but recently he has really been trying to see the bright side of things. 

_Downside: I will probably be alone and lonely my whole life._

_Upside: I am free._

**Porto Velho**

**January 21, 20:16 GMT- 4**

Ed was quietly sitting on the ground in an old, decrepit building, surrounded by other runaways and homeless people. He was eating a very stale and disgusting sandwich from a local gas station, while listening to other people talk or at least trying to, Portuguese was definitely not his forte, good thing their group was a mixed one and most everybody either knew spanish or english. 

The person next to him moved and a guy took his place. “Hey!”

“What’s up, Lucas?” He greeted, mouth full with bread.

Lucas was one of the few people Ed had met while in this city, Lucas was older, twenty something, really skinny and tall, dirty blonde hair and a lot of small and medium sized scars all over his body, a few on his face. He was a nice enough guy, but really sad, he tried to hide it, but he couldn’t, Ed had seen him go into his depressive state once and it was more than enough. From what he heard it happened often. 

They stayed in silence, until Lucas broke it “Have you met your soulmate, Edu?” 

The Argentinian swallowed the last of the sandwich and answered “Don’t have one.”

Lucas nodded his head “So you’re one of those people.” He smiled gently, his gaze far away.

“What about you?”

“Oh, yeah.” His smile grew and his eyes started to glisten. 

The silence stretched for a bit, until Lucas continued “She was perfect, god, I would’ve done anything for her, I did do everything I could and more for her. She was beautiful and smart and absolutely perfect.” He was still smiling, though tears were forming in his eyes.

Ed has started to feel uncomfortable, but his curiosity got the better of him “What happened? If… ugh… you know, you want to tell me…” He was blushing a bit. 

Lucas nodded his head “Don’t worry, it’s not like it’s a secret. She left me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Hahha, not like that! I meant, she just left me, for another, said I wasn’t good enough for her and she was right, you know, I really wasn’t, still am not, now more so than ever.” Tears were slowly rolling down his cheeks, he looked like he was no longer in the room mentally. He probably wasn’t, relieving the good ol’ times he had with his soulmate. Lucas spoke up once again “Only reason, I’m still here, I hope she will take me in one day.”

Ed was shocked, he had heard of soulmates leaving before, but he mostly thought that they stayed together, no matter what. He had always thought that your soulmate was your perfect person, the one always here for you, the only one you can truly trust with everything, turns out he was wrong… very wrong. 

_Downside: I’m still going to be alone and lonely my whole life._

_Upside: I will never have an abusive psycho for a soulmate._

**Mitú**

**February 10, 23:01 GMT-5**

The Argentinian had just arrived in the city, thanks to a bit of hitchhiking and a lot of walking, being on the run was exhausting and miserable… 

He walked through the streets, the only thing he wanted was to find a somewhat safe spot and just crash over there and fall asleep. It’s not like he was afraid of somebody stealing his things, he didn’t have anything valuable left. Also no money, but right now that really wasn’t current Ed’s problem.

Just as he was considering passing out on a street corner and hoping for the best, he saw it, a bench! But not just any bench one in a secluded but still pretty lit part of the park in front of him. Ed gathered whatever strength he had left and walked to it. He took a blanket out of his backpack and laid down on the bench, his skateboard against his back and the backpack a pillow. He quickly felt sleep overtake him. 

It felt barely like minutes had passed, but suddenly he was being woken up by a hand over his mouth and strong arms wrapping around him, he barely had time to register what was happening to him, yet alone panic as he lost consciousness once again.

_Downside: I got kidnapped._

_Upside: I (most likely) will not live long enough to be alone and lonely my whole life._

**Taos**

**April 1, 18:15 MDT**

Now Ed felt like even more of a freak, not only was he one of the few thousand people without a soulmate, but he also had weird, superpowers thanks to a gene inside his body… because aliens. He didn’t think his life could get any worse, at times like these he almost regretted running away from home. 

Ed did, in a way, reach his goal - he was in America and with his father. He had forgotten just what a hoot his dad was, but Senior quickly reminded him by throwing his only son inside STAR labs like a lab rat. 

He was walking towards one of the changing rooms at STAR labs, it wasn’t enough that aliens had experimented on him and the other abductees, apparently his dad also wanted to take a stab at it

Ed rounded a corner and opened the door of what he hoped was a changing room, he also hoped he would be alone, but no such luck was found. He opened the door, while Virgil was mid tacking his pants off.

Ed quickly started to close the door “Sorry, dude, I’ll leave you be.”

Virgil quickly recovered “Nah, it’s cool.”

The Argentinian went inside and opened one of the lockers, all of them contained the same white jumpsuits.

He took his vest off, then his scarf and finally his T-shirt. He started unzipping the jumpsuit.

“Damn, dude, cool soulmark.” Virgil whistled. 

Ed looked at him like he was seeing him for the first time “What…?”

The other teen rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly uncomfortable “Well, ugh, you know, the thing on your back, unless it’s just a tattoo, than cool tattoo, but aren’t we a bit young for tattoos, I-I mean you do you… hahha.” Virgil was bright red and rambling.

“Calm down. Look, I don’t know if this some kind of American humour I don’t understand, but I don’t have a soulmate and therefore a soulmark. Whatever you’re talking about was probably a parting gift by the Reach.” Ed was trying to reason, feeling a little nervous, like he had ever since he’d been freed from the Justice League and been able to form more coherent thoughts than ‘Everything hurts.’

He tried to deny to himself over and over again the weird itch he’d been having on his back, hasn’t even looked at it, scared at what might be or might not be there.

Virgil looked thoughtful for a second “I’m not an expert, but it sure looks like a soulmark to me. Wait, I’ll take a picture, so you can see it.” He took his phone out and snapped a picture, before even Ed realised what was happening.

The phone was suddenly in front of his face and there it was right in the middle of his shoulder blades… a round clock? He took the phone from Virgil and zoomed in on it. It was a clock alright, but missing both of his handles, in the middle of it was a big lightning bolt, almost like the one the Flash had on his costume. He started at it for several minutes straight, then even tried to twist his head around to see it.

Ed threw the phone back at Virgil, who caught it while panicking a bit and dashed to one of the bathroom mirrors. Ed turned around and then twisted his neck uncomfortably and there it was - a clock…

Virgil approached him once again “Hey, man, you feeling good?”

Ed blinked rapidly, overcome with emotion, it was neither a happy or a sad one, tears were forming in the corners of his eyes “I-I… I didn’t think I had one, I don’t how to feel, I don’t even know what’s going on anymore.”

He had started to breath rapidly “First I lived months on the streets, absolutely miserable, then I w-was kidnapped and experimented on by Aliens! Then I got superpowers, and now I have a soulmate tattoo.” Everything was becoming blurry, he didn’t even know what he was saying anymore.

Virgil rushed in and helped him sit on the cool ground, he helped him with his breathing and Ed slowly started to calm down. 

“Feeling better?”

“Yeah, yeah… thank you.”

Virgil slowly reach out and hugged Ed, the later hugged him back and buried his face in the place between his neck and his shoulder.

_Downside(s): I’ll probably never meet him(?), while I’m trapped in STAR labs and also WHAT KIND OF AN AGE DIFFERENCE IS 14 YEARS?!_

_Upside: I’m not alone._

**The Warworld**

**May 30, post-03:36 UTC**

‘Why did we have to listen to Virgil and come back to save the superheroes or whatever they called themselves?’ Ed thought for the what felt like the hundredth time, while teleporting behind a couple of Reach soldiers and taking them down. 

Asami signalled to him in which direction to go ‘Finally, we’re getting out of here.’ He teleported next to her and they took off. 

That’s when he saw him or at least felt him run past him, Ed suddenly felt this pressure on his back, his skin felt thigh and sensitive. He was so confused, but decided to chalk it up to the adrenaline from the battle and think about it later.

When the door burst open and Ed saw Nightwing, Miss Martian and a sphere he couldn’t be happier. 

Everybody quickly got onto the ship. 

Ed couldn’t help but steal a couple glances at this Impulse character, he hadn’t met him, but that’s what the others were calling him. He didn’t know why he was so nervous around the guy, he felt dizzy and like he might throw up. His stomach was in knots, he wanted to talk to him, but something was stopping him. 

He sweared he felt Impulse’s eyes on him. 

After Nightwing’s dismissal of Arsenal, they were just about ready to leave, but Ed wasn’t so sure, he wanted to leave, but he also wanted to stay, not because of Nightwing and his offer of joining some Justice League for kids thing, but because of the speedster, he felt this pull towards him. But still, he walked through the portal created by the Fatherbox in tow with his friends and Arsenal. 

Before that he stole one last glance at the speedster and saw that his eyes were also trained on him.

****

_Downside: My back really itches._

_Upside(?): Is it possible for soulmate tattoos to appear late without a reason?_

**Taos**

**July 5, 09:37 MDT**

Ed was currently once again at Star Labs, this time luckily not as an experiment. After what happened those few months all he wanted to do was lay down somewhere and sleep for as long as humanly (meta-humanly?) possible. But that wasn’t an option, at least not now. He was helping his father move some stuff around and get settled into STAR labs, after it was rebuild. 

In the end he had decided to stay with his dad, maybe they will grow closer, maybe they won’t, no matter what happens, he was just happy that everything was over and that getting a citizenship was easier than ever, thanks to being kidnapped by the same aliens the American government trusted before their attack. It was a sort of “Sorry the Reach experimented on, want to not sue us, but instead live here, you illegal immigrant?”

The teen’s mind quickly drifted away and he started focusing on more interesting thoughts, such as the speedster. He still couldn’t explain why the guy wouldn’t get out of his head, he had a speculation, but that was impossible, right?

Just as Ed thought that, a strong gust of wind hit him from behind and Kid Flash was standing right in front of him, though it didn’t quite look like him. 

Ed blinked a couple of times “Ugh, hi?”

Kid Flash smiled, a bit awkward “I just wanted to… thank you! You know for freeing us and helping out after.” He rubbed the back of his head.

“Yeah, yeah I mean, I guess you should be thanking Virgil for the rescue, he insisted.” He cringed at himself ‘Wow, Ed, real smooth.’ 

Impulse blinked, awkwardness settling between them “Anyways… I’m Impulse! Well Kid Flash now, rebranding.” He said proudly, but full of sadness, while extending his hand towards Ed.

Ed looked at it for a second than took it in his own “I’m Eduardo or just Ed for short.”

The moment he said that and their hands touched Ed felt a burning, yet calming sensation on his back. He flinched and so did the speedster. 

Without thinking the Argentinian teleported to the bathroom/locker room close by. He poked his head out of it and signalled for the new Kid Flash to follow him inside. 

The brown haired speedster was currently looking at the inside of his left arm, but quickly followed Ed inside.

The stared at each other, neither saying anything. 

The Argentinian swallowed and shook his head ‘Dios mío, this is so awkward.’ “So, ugh, there’s no other way to say it, but I’m going to take my shirt of to check something, yeah?” He felt like he might die of pure embarrassment alone, he was bright red and fidgeting awkwardly.

Kid Flash also grew increasingly red with each second “Yeah, of-of course, I’m gonna see something for myself as well.” He nodded once and reached for his left glove. 

Ed quickly took his arms out of the T-shirt and left it hanging around his neck. He looked in the large mirror, twisting his neck uncomfortably and that’s when he saw it from the corner of his eye – his soulmark completely filled in. The clock was simply black and white, but the lightning bolt was like a real one, full of oranges and yellows with little sparks flying all around the clock. 

His emotions were so mixed up, he was happy, ecstatic even, but also nervous and definitely scared… very sacred.

He put his shirt down and turned towards the superhero, who had taken his glove off and pushed the sleeve of the yellow costume up, exposing his inner arm. There right above the inside of his elbow was a stylised sun – a golden sun, simple, yet very beautiful. 

Kid Flash slowly ran his fingers over the tattoo “Wow, I mean - I just –“ tears were gathering in his eyes.

Panic overtook Ed “Hey! Is that from happiness, is something wrong? Are you unhappy? You know I’m also very emotional right now.” He was rambling. 

The hero sucked in a big breath, clenched his eyes shut, then exhaled, opened his eyes and looked straight at Ed. He smiled slightly “Yeah, I’m fine.” 

Ed also returned the smile, his cheeks growing hotter “So, we good?”

Kid Flash grinned “We good, well I think proper introductions are in order!” He reached for the cowl.

The Argentinian was definitely a bit surprised, he wanted to know his… soulmate’s identity, but he also didn’t want the other teen to be uncomfortable or feel like he was forced to reveal it.

“It’s fine, if you don’t wanna, I mean I’d like to… but you know, if you don’t want to, that’s cool too.” He tried to sound nonchalant, he wasn’t sure he succeeded.

Kid Flash shook his head “If not now, then when?” 

He took the cowl off “Name’s Bart Allen!”

Ed studied his face for a bit, he was quite simply, pretty damn attractive, not that it mattered, but it was still a nice touch. He smiled brightly and shook his hand once again “Pleasure to meet you.”

Bart winked “Believe me, the pleasure is all mine.”

Ed raised one of his eyebrows, still smiling, his cheeks had a light dusting of pink. Then it hit him, after all of the emotions of meeting his soulmate and confirming it was him, logic had started kicking in once again.

He let go of Bart’s hand “Sorry, I have to ruin the moment, but why did my tattoo appear just a couple months ago? No offence? But you don’t look like a one year old.”

The speedster rubbed the back of his head “Well, if it makes you feel better I was also quite shocked when I came here from the future and suddenly had a soulmark.” He was smiling brightly.

“Wait! The future?”

“Hah, let’s say we have a lot to talk about.”

Ed didn’t mind that at all “How about we have that conversation some place other than the bathroom?”

_Downside: I don’t know anything about my soulmate (from the future?) and neither does he about me._

_Upside: I am more than happy, that we can do that together._

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to leave a comment/kudos


End file.
